Friday, March 14, 2008

American Life League invites Americans to submit their prayer intentions online for the March 31 Feast of the Annunciation. American Life League’s spiritual director will be saying a Mass for the safe delivery of all babies and those intentions submitted.“The month of March provides us with the ideal opportunity to celebrate the personhood of the preborn human being,” said Michaeleen Sedlak, events coordinator for American Life League.“Specifically,” continued Sedlak, “March 25, which exactly is nine months prior to Christmas, is celebrated by Christians as the first day that Jesus came to earth. On that day, known as the Feast of the Annunciation, Mary said ‘yes’ to God’s plan, becoming the first arc of the covenant as Jesus took up residence in her womb.”

According to the Catholic liturgical calendar, the Feast of the Annunciation will be celebrated on March 31 this year because March 25 falls within the Octave of Easter.

“The significance of this day is not lost on the many countries that celebrate it as a holiday,” said Sedlak. “El Salvador, Argentina, Chile, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Peru have all officially recognized the Feast of the Annunciation. American Life League is planning to commemorate the day by having a special Mass offered for the safe birth of all babies in the womb. In addition, we have developed a set of activities that individuals and groups can participate in throughout March.”

President Bush delivered a rousing defense of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on Tuesday, mixing faith and foreign policy as he told a group of Christian broadcasters that his policies in the region were predicated on the beliefs that freedom was a God-given right and “every human being bears the image of our maker.”

And so those are some of the dynamics that makes it hard. And I'm troubled byisolationism and protectionism. As a matter of fact, I dedicated part of myState of the Union address a couple of years ago to this very theme. And whatconcerns me is, is that the United States of America will become fatigued whenit comes to fighting off tyrants, or say it's too hard to spread liberty, or usethe excuse that just because freedom hadn't flourished in parts of the world,therefore it's not worth trying, and that, as a result, we kind of retrench andlose confidence in our -- the values that have made us a great nation in thefirst place.

But these aren't American values; they're universal values.And the danger of getting tired during this world [sic] is any retreat by theAmerica -- by America was going to be to the benefit of those who want to do usharm. Now, I understand that since September the 11th, the great tendency is tosay, we're no longer in danger. Well, that's false. That's false hope. It'seither disingenuous or naive, and either one of those attitudes is unrealistic.

And the biggest job we've got is to protect the American people fromharm. I don't want to get in another issue, but that's why we better figure outwhat the enemy is saying on their telephones, if you want to protect you.(Applause.) Notice I am deftly taking a trade issue and working in all my otherissues. (Laughter.)

But I'm serious about this business about Americaretreating. And I've got great faith in the transformative power of liberty, andthat's what I believe is going to happen in the Middle East. And I understand itundermines the argument of the stability-ites -- people who say, you just got toworry about stability. And I'm saying, we better worry about the conditions thatcaused 19 kids to kill us in the first place.

And the best way to dealwith hopelessness is to fight disease like we're doing in Africa, and fightforms of government that suppress people's rights, like we're doing around theworld. And a retreat from that attitude is going to make America less secure andthe world more dangerous, just like a loss of confidence in trade.

Andyet the two run side by side: isolationism and protectionism. I might throwanother "ism," and that's nativism. And that's what happened throughout ourhistory. And probably the most grim reminder of what can happen to Americaduring periods of isolationism and protectionism is what happened in the late --in the '30s, when we had this "America first" policy, and Smoot-Hawley. And lookwhere it got us.

And so I guess to answer your question, there needs tobe political courage, in the face of what may appear to be a difficult headwind,in order to speak clearly about the effects of retreat and the benefits oftrade. And so I appreciate you giving me a chance to opine. (Laughter andapplause.)

"It's very troubling for the government to dictate what kind of prayers Christians can or cannot offer in the public forum," says Dr. Gary Cass. "Jesus taught His disciples to pray to the Father in His name. To require Christians to not pray in the name of Jesus Christ is asking them to pray contrary to their faith. By what authority does the Government deny Christians their First Amendment right to pray according to the dictates of their conscience?"

Reverend Hashmel Turner, a member of the Fredericksburg, Virginia city council, was threatened with lawsuits by from many secular anti-Christian groups, including the ACLU, for his Christian prayers during a council meeting. Turner was apart of a rotation of all the council members who would take turns praying at the council meetings. His case is currently making it's way to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals on March 19, and would allow Christians the right to pray "in Jesus' name" in the public forum. This case will have a tremendous impact on city councils and state legislatures throughout the United States.

"Just because somebody objects to praying in Jesus' name does not mean that should Christians must deny their faith to accommodate another person's opposing beliefs. This is discrimination," said Dr. Cass. "Over 80% of American's self-identify as Christians, but Hindu's, Muslim's and Jew's have all prayed in the public forum and no one has restricted the content of their prayers and the ACLU has not threatened them.

"The majority of Christians are subjected to non-Christian prayers, why are Christians told what they can or cannot pray? This is simply anti-Christian bigotry and an attempt to deny free speech for Christians," said Cass.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Today, the President signed Executive Order 13457, "Protecting American Taxpayers from Government Spending on Wasteful Earmarks." This Executive Order (EO) makes clear that future earmarks included in report language will be ignored and builds on the President's pledge in his State of the Union address to veto FY 2009 spending bills that do not cut the cost and number of earmarks in half from FY 2008 levels.